Applying for Food Stamps in New York? There’s an App for That

About 1.7 million people in New York City receive food stamps. To qualify, they must produce dozens of documents to prove their eligibility, including birth certificates, pay stubs, leases and children’s school records.

Gathering, copying and bringing the documents to a social services office, and then waiting to be seen by a worker can take many hours, an arduous process that the city’s welfare agency, the Human Resources Administration, is beginning to ease with the help of a new cellphone app.

Now, those seeking food stamps can take pictures of the required documents with their phones and upload the photos to the app, similar to how customers use banking apps to make deposits.

Since March, when the app, Access HRA Mobile, was introduced, through June, applicants have uploaded more than a million documents, a number that continues to rise as more people learn they can use their phones instead of going to an office.